


Ruptured Eardrum

by Sharcade



Series: Whump Challenge [8]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Illnesses, Injury, Nausea, Pain, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump, whump challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-10 21:44:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16462892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharcade/pseuds/Sharcade
Summary: Harrison desperately wants to impress the only person who's ever given his magic tricks this much attention.





	Ruptured Eardrum

"I've gotta admit, that's pretty neat. Nice work Harrison."

Harrison grinned slightly as he flipped his top hat back onto his head; he had been demonstrating tricks for Max all afternoon. David and Gwen had been tasked with cleaning up the activities field all day after a fire that may or may not have been related to Max in some way, leaving the campers to have a free day. With Neil and Nikki both running off on their own adventures, Max was left to find something else to entertain him.

Harrison was probably his first choice. It wasn't that Max liked Harrison, but Harrison was definitely the most tolerable camper by far. Max couldn't go three seconds without wanting to punch Nerris each time she opened her mouth, Ered was insanely boring to hang out with, Space Kid couldn't be any older than five or six, and everybody else was just plain insufferable. Harrison was annoying, but at least he could put on a show.

"So where'd you learn all this hocus pocus shit anyway?" Max questioned, resting against one of Harrison's prop chests and kicking his feet up. "I get the whole milk in the newspaper thing, but shooting fire and stuff? What's your secret?"

"Oh, uh," Harrison began, furrowing his brow. "There's not really a secret, it's magic."

"Like, real actual magic?"

"Of course!"

"Well, that's pretty neat too."

Harrison couldn't quite tell if Max believed him, the camper staring at him with indifference in his eyes and a small smirk. Harrison didn't know why, but he  _desperately_ wanted Max to like him: Something about the camper made him so cool, something about the way he just didn't care about anything made Harrison admire him, Harrison wanted nothing more than Max while every other camper was out chasing Ered's coolness. They were just blind; Max was the coolest camper there, and Max was impressed by  _his_ magic tricks.

Harrison beamed with pride.

"I could teach you some, if you're-"

"Nah, I'll pass," Max mused, looking over Harrison's eclectic collection of props and supplies curiously. "No Magic Camp for me."

"Then do you want to see some more tricks?"

"Sure. Dazzle me."

Harrison patted down his pockets hurriedly, attempting to find something that would impress Max. Max was hard to fool; he knew all the basic tricks, he wanted to see something real, something exciting. He had done some serious damage to Max last time he had tried something extreme - Max had been extremely sick, vomiting up different magical props for days afterwards. Harrison had felt guilty; the trick had been meant to target Neil, Max hadn't actually done anything to deserve it. He had tried his best to make it up to Max since then, trying to get to know the camper a little better and apologizing repeatedly whenever the topic came up. Max seemed to have responded well, now choosing to spend time with Harrison rather than spending time alone.

"Alright, watch this," Harrison began, focusing all his energy into his hands and closing his eyes. "And stand back."

He could hear Max scootching back slightly against the floor, the magician doing his best to drown out all of his senses as he focused, he had to  _focus_. Harrison wasn't quite sure  _how_ his abilities worked, but he knew that if he didn't focus all of his attention on what he was doing in the moment, something could go very wrong. Taking a deep breath, Harrison felt his hands begin to warm, the magician slowly separating his hands as fire began to form in each one.

"Holy shit, you'd be pretty fucking handy next time we feel like burning down the camp."

"I try not to use my powers to harm anybody," Harrison explained, the fire going out as he opened his eyes and returned his focus to Max. "Unless I  _hate_ them."

"Damn, Harrison. That's pretty dark."

"There's been incidents in the past," Harrison admitted tensely, rubbing his hands together and patting out the heat. "I try to be very careful now."

"Damn. Do more, you've got my attention."

Harrison's heart skipped a beat;  _his magic had somebody's attention._

"Okay!" Harrison replied enthusiastically, pulling his top hat off. "Watch this!"

Max's eyes followed Harrison's hand as the magician reached into his hat, Harrison focusing closely on his work as sweat beaded down his forehead. Harrison had abilities; that couldn't be denied, Harrison could do things that others could not. Most jarringly, Harrison could summon life. He had done it many times before without knowing how - the standard rabbit from a hat, though occasionally other things like mice (or lice). Those things, however, wouldn't impress Max. Max was fickle. Harrison had to pull out all the stops for this private show.

"Tada!" Harrison boasted as his hand was pulled from a hat, the magician clutching a snake tightly.

"Holy shit!" Max gawked, hopping up from the ground and rushing over to observe the animal. "That's so much cooler than a rabbit, Harrison!"

The snake thrashed impatiently in Harrison's hand, Max seemingly dazzled by the creature. Harrison was more proud than he had been in his entire summer at camp; nobody had ever admired his quite like this. He had put on plenty of shows and received plenty of  _oohs_ and  _ahs_ , but Max was genuinely invested, and Harrison was dying to impress. He needed to hook Max. He needed to take things further.

"And now," Harrison continued, dropping the snake back into his hat and watching it vanish into the blackness. "Watch and be amazed!"

Harrison closed his eyes, rubbing his hands together as he focused all his energy once again. He could feel heat pouring into his hands, his fingers tingling as energy gathered in his palms. He could hear a quiet gasp of surprise from Max as the magician's hands began to glow, Harrison slowly lifting his hands up above his head as they grew hotter and hotter. Harrison could feel sweat beading down his forehead as the stress continued building inside him, he was using more energy than he ever typically would in a day, a pressure was building in him that made him feel as though he would explode if he didn't perform his trick soon,  _he needed to do it now._

With a massive blast, Harrison fired a pillar of light into the air, the shot exploding as if it were the biggest firework Max had ever seen in his life as sparkles rained down over the camp. Harrison gasped - he hadn't realized he had been holding his breath - pain blasting through his head sharply as the energy was expelled from his body all at once. Max was obviously stunned, staring up at the sky in awe as light showered down on them. Harrison grinned despite the pain that was still gently pulsing in his head;  _Max was impressed._

"Holy fuck, Harrison..." Max mumbled, still staring up at the sky. "You're kind of badass..."

"Thank you," Harrison panted, his smile dropping slightly in confusion as he felt a sting still running through his ear.

"You okay? Lookin' tired."

"It just takes a lot of energy," Harrison assured, wiping the sweat from his forehead as the sting in his ear persisted.

His ear was ringing  _loudly_ , the magician beginning to sway as the world spun around him. Something was wrong - it wasn't uncommon for Harrison to feel a little winded and woozy after a big trick, but this was different, he was dizzy, he was  _nauseous_ , and he could barely hear Max over the blaring ringing in his ear.

"Harrison?" Max prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Oh- Sorry," Harrison stammered tiredly. "Did you say something?"

"Dude, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Max repeated, looking over Harrison's flushed face before his eyes finally drifted over to the side of Harrison's head. "Your uh, your ear is bleeding."

"It's bleeding?!" Harrison gawked incredulously, wiping blood from his ear and staring at the liquid stained into his gloves. "Oh boy..."

Harrison's mind was racing; what the hell had just happened? He could still barely hear Max, the ringing beginning to grow painful in his head as blood dripped gently onto the wooden floor of his stage, his legs threatening to give out from under him. In what felt like a moment Max's arms were tucked under Harrison's, holding the camper up and quickly setting him down on a prop crate, Harrison wincing slightly and wiping the remaining blood from his ear.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Max spat. "You fucking hurt yourself!"

"I didn't know that would happen," Harrison mumbled, stripping the dirty gloves from his hands. "I think I freaked my ear."

"You can't just say something is freaked and pretend like that's an actual fucking phrase," Max hissed, looking over Harrison's ear. "You probably ruptured it."

"Ruptured-?"

"You popped your fucking eardrum," Max explained, sighing. "Jesus Christ, Harrison, why were you trying so hard?"

"I just-" Harrison began, hesitating for a moment. "I wanted to impress you."

" _Impress_ me?"

"I wanted you to think I was cool," Harrison admitted, swaying slightly as his dizziness increased tenfold. "Because...Because  _you're_ cool, and if you thought that  _I_ was cool, well then-"

"You think I'm cool?" Max blurted out, seemingly surprised. "Actually, nevermind, that doesn't matter - let's deal with your ear."

"Thank you for watching my tricks," Harrison mumbled, slumping against Max's shoulder as the smaller camper hoisted him to his feet. "I know you probably didn't actually want to."

"Meh, it was kinda cool," Max shrugged, pulling Harrison along towards the counsellor's cabin.

Harrison grinned.

"You think my tricks are cool?" he beamed, ignoring his pain for just a moment to relish in the fact that he  _he had impressed Max._ "Seriously?"

"Whatever, don't get a fucking hard-on over it Harrison."

"Do you think I'm cool?!"

"Shut up, Jesus Christ. Let's just get you to David already."

**Author's Note:**

> I now have an official Tumblr! Feel free to stop by!
> 
> sharcade-involved.tumblr.com


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